Design criteria and preliminary results of an array antenna for a satellite synthetic aperture radar

Electrical requirements and mechanical considerations of an array antenna for a satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) together with the antenna configuration and the synthesis of aperture distribution are presented. Consideration is given to the vertical pattern shape providing a flat gain in the swath and to the horizontal pattern as a compromise between maximum gain, integrated side lobe ratio, and feasibility of simple feeding network. In order to verify the theoretical performance and some design assumptions, critical items were built and tested, and experimental results shown verify the feasibility of the vertical pattern.